Ventura County Strawberry Growers Pick Up the Pace

Ventura County strawberry growers reaped a record harvest this year, as good weather and an expanded number of plantings combined to fuel production.

County growers had pumped out 26.6 million trays of berries by the end of last week. That compares with 21.4 million trays during the same period last year and 23.4 million trays for all of 2001, the previous record yield.

Although the main harvest is all but over now, the bumper crop has accounted for one-third of all strawberries picked statewide so far this year.

And while the value of those berries won’t be known for months, several growers said prices this season were as high as they have been in years.

“It was a spectacular strawberry year for anyone involved in the industry in Ventura County,” said Oxnard grower Christopher Deardorff, who farms 200 acres of strawberries near Camarillo. “Not only was production up, but prices were fabulous.”

Over the last decade, no area of the state has planted more new strawberry acreage than Ventura County. It remains California’s second-largest strawberry-producing region behind the Watsonville/Salinas area, according to the California Strawberry Commission.

County growers had 8,582 acres in production this year, a 10% increase over last year and double the acreage dedicated to strawberries a decade ago.

The added acreage accounts in part for the boost in production, growers say. However, farmers say they benefited this year from an extremely cold winter followed by a cool, dry spring. The cold temperatures held back early-season production, prompting the harvest to explode in the spring and early summer.

Agricultural officials say that kind of success has made Ventura County a desirable place for strawberry growers to set up operations. And it has firmly placed strawberries among the top cash crops in the county’s $1-billion agricultural industry.

The crop was valued at $186 million in 2000, second only to lemons.

“The market has been awfully good for strawberry growers,” said county Agricultural Commissioner Earl McPhail. “When you look at the crop report, the total dollar value keeps going up every year.”